Table saws are commonly used to cut transversely across a piece of lumber or other material which is being sawn. Most table saws have a miter guide which helps the sawyer to orient the piece of material at an appropriate angle with respect to the saw blade. These miter guides are typically adjustable so that material can be cross cut through a wide range of angles including perpendicular.
The miter guide commonly available on table saws is usually about eight inches in width. When pieces of lumber are substantially longer than this, there is a good chance that the actual saw cut will not be at the desired angle because of misalignment between the piece of lumber and the miter guide. It is also common for the miter guides to include a long guide rail which fits in a slot formed in the surface of the saw table and is slidable to and from the saw blade. Such slidable guide rails often are difficult to slide because dirt and other debris may enter into the slot and cause the rail to bind. It is also common for the rails to develop rust which impedes the easy sliding of the miter guide.
Although the miter guides described above are commonly used on table saws, they are also occasionally used on other types of crosscut saws. Miter guides incorporated into these other types of crosscut saws similarly suffer from the limitations of lack of support for the piece of lumber and difficulty in sliding the miter guide with ease and smoothness. Such smooth and easy operation of the miter guide is necessary for precision work.
The current invention was developed with the above problems and limitations of the prior art in mind. The invention solves these problems and other problems using the structure and function of the invention described below .